A moderately attended Oakdale City Council meeting Monday evening saw a mixed bag of action and postponement on an agenda that included several items designed to publicize and promote the city. The meeting started at its usual 7 p.m. time after a two-hour closed door session in which existing and anticipated litigation was discussed. There were no reportable actions that came out of the closed session.

The public is invited to an open house event at the Willowood Drive fire station Friday, March 23 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. where three Oakdale City firefighters will receive their promotional badge pinning.

There was no mistaking the plume of gray smoke as it spiraled into the blue skies on Friday, March 9 as a house on East C Street began to burn from an out-of-control chimney fire and ended up displacing a family of four.

While the unseasonably dry winter didn't impact the start of the 2012 irrigation season for the Oakdale Irrigation District, it has prompted officials at the neighboring South San Joaquin Irrigation District to make allowances for what they anticipate will be a tough year.

Even though it sometimes seems that March is the last month you need to survive before warmer weather starts, the month does bring a lot of important health-related observances. With these reminders from USA.gov, you can make March a healthy month:

Dr. Jerrold Polterock, Oakdale's Ear, Nose and Throat surgeon will be lecturing to Head and Neck residents during Grand Rounds in the Department of Otolaryngology at UC Davis on Tuesday, March 13. He will be lecturing about the treatment of nosebleeds, and how the treatment has changed and improved through his experience over the last 25 years. His talk is titled, "Epistaxis: (nosebleeds) My Personal Journey."

Sheriff's Deputies assigned to Waterford Police Services are investigating a shooting that happened Monday, March 5 at 5:55 p.m. in the 500 block of F Street in Waterford. Deputies responded to a male who had been shot, when they arrived they found a 19-year-old male with a gunshot wound to his upper body and one to his lower body. He was transported to a local hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries.

After much discussion about the current wording of the existing planned development requirements, the Oakdale Planning Commission voted to keep the wording the same but took under consideration the suggestion to restructure the way the section is presented to be more user-friendly.

Public Works employees were slowing traffic on Pontiac Street during the course of the past week to undertake some general maintenance of the Pontiac sewage lift station to address some issues, said Public Works Director Joe Leach.

An investigation into reports of identity theft and credit card fraud resulted in the serving of search warrants and confiscation of property in Escalon this week, and police are looking for possible victims of the scam. The warrants were served at a business, All City Automotive at 1910 Main St., Escalon, and a residence in the 1800 Block of Baker Avenue in that city.

Faced with the possibility of financing a $20,000 special election as well as having to wait until the end of the year, the Oakdale City Council unanimously approved moving forward with the decision to appoint someone to fill Don Petersen's upcoming vacant seat.

Three members of the Oakdale Police Department were recognized for heroic action on Monday night, Feb. 2 stemming from a 2014 incident where a man threatened his family with a knife and who attempted to take his own life in the process.

For the second time the Stanislaus County District Attorney's Office has asked the court to grant them more time to decide if they will pursue criminal charges against a Turlock man accused of sexually assaulting an employee at his Oakdale pizzeria.